Where have we heard these words before? More and more as I get older, I am firmly convinced that nobody ever invents anything, knowledge and wisdom do not pop into existence out of nowhere like some Darwinistic Big Bang -- nor even a bunch of little Puny Pops -- everything came from somewhere, like energy comes from somewhere else, mostly the sun, which gets its energy from Einstein's matter-energy conversion, and God made the matter. Ultimately, that somewhere is always God, as James tells us:
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to everybody without finding fault, and it will be given to him. -- James 1:5Did you catch that? God gives His Wisdom to everybody -- even the unbelievers -- otherwise we could not safely get on an elevator or airplane designed and built by atheists and reasonably expect to arrive at our destination without it falling out of the sky. The groundwork for all this technology was invented by Christians, but the atheists and unbelievers can see what works and build on it without actually understanding what's going on. And we benefit from that. God is Good, what the atheists give us is only second-hand.
Jesus said something similar in his Sermon on the Mount:
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.Continuing on with what David told Solomon as a child [read v.5-9]
The second half of verse 7, do you remember where you have seen that
in Jesus' teachings? [Try Matt.13:45] Wisdom is like the Kingdom of Heaven,
pay everything you have for it, because Wisdom will replace what it cost
you (and more). [discuss]
Did anybody ever say that good results happen from being stupid or unwise, or that Bad Things result from God's Wisdom? No, common sense tells us that Wisdom -- well, common sense, same thing -- has good results. When Bad Things Happen, it's usually because somebody did something stupid or unwise. I think I mentioned a week or two ago, my father's advice,
Experience is a hard school, but the fool learneth in none other.I distilled that down to "Opium" (OPM) = "Other People's Mistakes," and it has served me well. Look around, see what other people did in this situation, and what happened. Don't make the same mistakes. Sometimes I didn't understand what happened, and things didn't turn out so good, but mostly I try to figure it out.
Now we have the negative consequences of doing it Wrong [read v.14-17]
Bad people corrupt good intentions, stay away from that kind of people (if you can) [discuss].
That was four verses of Good results from Wisdom followed by four verses of Bad results from Bad people, then we get a summary, one verse each [read v.18-19]
Wisdom is like daylight, seeing where you are going and avoiding the potholes. Evil is darkness, not being able to see what's happening to you. Jesus told Nicodemus,
"Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." -- John 3:19-21Jesus is the Light of the World, turn on the Light. Notice that Jesus did not say we do good on our own, when Good things are done, God did it. Either we accept God working in us to do Good, or we turn away from it and do our own evil. Solomon is saying that too.
[read v.24-27]
Wisdom and Solomon's advice is like a Covid or flu shot, once is not enough, you must keep on getting boosters. The Apostle Paul repeated that sentiment several times, including himself:
I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. -- 1Co.9:27It's good advice.
Tom Pittman
2022 August 1a